


Heart of Fire

by LeastExpected_Archivist



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-02-04
Updated: 2002-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:34:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26307895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeastExpected_Archivist/pseuds/LeastExpected_Archivist
Summary: By Mel A.When the Noldor left Valinor to return to Arda, Galadriel went because of something she had foreseen, only to discover the ironic side of foresight.
Relationships: Arien/Galadriel | Artanis
Kudos: 3
Collections: Least Expected





	Heart of Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Amy Fortuna, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Least Expected](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Least_Expected), which has been offline since 2002. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on the [Least Expected collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/leastexpected/profile).
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't own any of it, sadly.  
> Story Notes: I am assuming the reader has a familiarity with the Silmarillion here, or at least has a copy of the book to look up any names that aren't known.

Galadriel, Lady of Lothlorien, woke only moments before dawn, as was her long-standing habit. Her golden hair, said to have caught the radiance of Laurelin within, pooled across her pillow. Closing her eyes after slumber, Galadriel felt the sun break over the horizon. She lay still, trembling in anticipation. With the dawn came the touch of her beloved Arien. Slow caresses warmed her against the chill in the morning air. Her lover's scent filled the room, captured close by the canopy overhead. Galadriel opened her arms, welcoming into her embrace the only one for whom she would abandon all. 

The stillness of the morning was broken by a hushed gasp. Heat penetrated lily-white skin. Galadriel arched her back against her lover's strokes, feeling the other move against her as water over rock, slipping into every crevasse of her body. Powerless to resist even had she wanted to, Galadriel opened her mouth to Arien's kiss as the Maia's touch danced over the skin of her stomach. A flush stole across the cheeks of Galadriel as Arien warmed her within, finding a fire within the elf that responded to her own blaze. 

As the waves of pleasure ebbed, Galadriel opened her eyes. Her skin was dappled with shadow cast by the sunlight filtering through the foliage above. As expected she was alone in her bed, and, as always, this discovery brought with it the source of pain that lingered ever in her eyes, eyes that saw so much and yet so little. 

"Good morning, precious Vasa," she whispered, looking up into the glory of the sun as it slowly progressed to the East. She did not need to see Arien to know the Maia smiled. Stretching one hand up as if to touch the sky, Galadriel caressed the golden globe, cupping the gentle curve in her palm. 

None in Valinor had been surprised at the attention Galadriel had earned from the fiery Arien. Arien's love for the golden flowers in the gardens of Vana, tended devotedly with the dew of the tree Laurelin, had been drawn to the reflection of the Song of Gold in the very essence of Galadriel. Though a spirit of fire, Arien had not been swayed by the deceptions of Melkor, the love she shared with Galadriel proving the stronger of the two powers. It was the light of her love for the elf maid that had caused Arien's eyes to blaze with such brightness that the Eldar could not look upon them. 

It was in that fierce light that Galadriel saw Arien go into the East. No further details were revealed to the elf maid, for her power of foresight was not then honed through centuries of use. Galadriel saw only that Arien would go without her and chose the path that presented itself. Choosing to go first into the East that she might be present and waiting when the Maia went herself, Galadriel followed Fingolfin and her brothers, leaving Valinor to return to Arda. 

"Every day you wake me, I feel your touch, I sense your nearness," Galadriel whispered. "Though I walk all day to meet you at the horizon, you are ever out of reach. When I saw you go into the East, I did not know that your journey would never cease and that I would be unable to pursue." 

With a final look of longing, the lady rose gracefully, donning a long dress of white and silver. Her shimmering hair she smoothed back with a fine comb, leaving it loose, as Arien had ever adored. 

"Would I still have gone, had I known what was to come?" Galadriel asked again of her beloved, her face hidden behind the veil of her golden hair. "If I had known that my departure would cause you such sorrow that you would hasten after me at the first opportunity? Were we both so much of fire that neither had the patience to wait?" 

Anar the Fire-Golden, fruit of Laurelin, was created and set to traverse the sky as a light of hope against the darkness of Melkor, moving ever eastward. Longing to look on the face of her beloved again, Arien had willingly abandoned her previous form to steer the vessel of the sun as naked flame. As Galadriel had predicted, now Arien went into the East, but the two were not to be joined again as they had been in Valinor. 

Galadriel drifted across the room to the door. She could hear the sounds from nearby of her husband, chosen to be the father of her child and to rule over Lothlorien beside her, since she would never have her beloved Arien on this earth. So much would have been different if she had foreseen more... or less. 

Lifting her face to the light above, Galadriel smiled wistfully. "Watch over me by day, wake me every morn, and ever we linger. If you are able to wait for the unmaking of the world, I shall. On that day your light will bring our love to blossom anew. Until then I will guard it tightly here within, kindled by your fire." 

Looking down on the slender form of her lover, the Heart of Fire burned her way across the sky.


End file.
